This endless sprawl of stonesEach polished to perfectionSit behind towering black gatesGreek-pillared mausoleumsHouse mummified housewivesStagnant infinity pools overlookChoked deadened lawnsEven the dogs are deceasedCrawled under the digger’s shedTo die aloneFlowers cut, and dried a brittle brownFamily portraits faded from a scorched earth sunThere is little, or no, sustenance hereDelivered from sinInto the arms of […]
Category: Poetry
Survival of the Fittest – Howard Debs
The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of theinstinct of sympathy. …………………………………………………………………..—Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man She is juststarting out in lifeshe is fed by amachine breatheswith the aid ofanother machinetake away themachines, she dies.She is on a bus drivingin darkness to reachWashington D.C.she […]
ID – Duane Vorhees
(4 T. S. Le0) R h: n h f xs,–p & V-O; n h f b9 tv, n ic 4m, n mt sa; a c f Lezn vdo fx 2 nv; h lo 2 p n2, hs nme 2 ko (n i 4 n i 4 n i—i! i! […]
School Shooter – Eric Robert Nolan
Grendel’s mother wanted murder; but we all knew that, you knew that just by looking at her: the green and odorous skin like dark olive parchment over her cheeks’ low bones, the blackening teeth where the stale blood caked and dried in her receding gumlines like burgundy ink on her molars and incisors, and […]
Song for the Street Dogs – Jake Tringali
Raise a toast to the lowlife brahmin! Leave Boston to the Street Dogs! The lawyers and doctors and learned universities Left the city in droves, should be hanged for atrocities They called it the Incident, clapped their hands and just left Packed up their hedge funds, emptied the city coffers and hope chests […]
The Continuous Now – Howie Good
Tourists who had taken selfies at the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe posted them to Facebook. A gnome-like man with a greasy comb-over responded, “Everything is art, everything is rubbish.” We decided to put down flowers and dog biscuits, and light a candle. It was like Elvis coming back to play […]
Murder Town – Jake Tringali
squirrel reaching for the greasy ledge scrabbling for a perch the carrion crow dives, on ancient cold instinct four times for the swindler scamming addicts with flash until one needles him back, in the small of the back gutterpunk eight-year-old swings the wailing pussycat by the tail faster faster, until his curiosity is killeda circus […]
New Normal – Jon Bennett
Larry sat in the day roomand looked at the clockIt was 1:22He looked at the TVthen back at the clock2:22, 2:22, 2:222:22? A whole hour lost!?He bolted from the roomand ran down the stairsbut time had slowedand an hour laterhe was still on themFinally, he made itto the Staff Office“Yooou neeeeed sommmething?”said a counselorLarry’s […]
Advertisement – Neil Creighton
For sale, Planet Earth, The Solar System, Orion Arm, The Milky Way. This planet, filled with abundant life and suggestion of spirit-force, is slightly used but has great potential. Prospective buyers will notice some wear at the Poles, difficulty with the air-conditioning, considerable habitat loss, coral bleaching, and species extinction due to short-term thinking from […]
In a World Where Birth is a Time for Grief as Soon as She Knows – Paul Brookes
she will not forego it.Happy for it to chew on darkness, drink fetid air, have bloated ribs.She will starve it.She buys the black lace dress,gossamer veil:a frail black rosefor her pregnancy.Her spouse cowersin the corners of her busyness,helps where she’ll allow,through her stony hail of“You’ve condemned me to this.”He traces the conceptionof the […]